Remember Me
by JustAnotherBibliophile
Summary: Mal's magic places her under a sleeping curse for four months. Ben sits by her side, day after day trying to talk to her and wake her up while his father helps run the kingdom. The main issue is the fact that when she wakes up, she's 21, married, pregnant, and she doesn't remember anything past her 16th birthday and doesn't remember even getting off the Isle.
1. Prolouge

**So, in this story, Mal and Ben are 21. Because they were engaged at the age of 17 in Descendants 3, they got married at 19. Just wanted to give ages to avoid confusion. **

**Also thank you to DS Rider for telling me the story was in code and I have no idea if what I'm trying right now will work!**

He didn't know what he did to deserved this. He had always tried his best to be kind and to help everyone, but maybe that didn't have anything to do with your luck.

To put it simply, Mal was trapped under a sleeping curse. They were at Jay and Lonnie's wedding reception, when Mal started to feel dizzy. Ben had helped her to a chair, when suddenly she put her head down and fell asleep. No one thought anything of it at first, and they let her be.

The issue arose when Ben decided it was time to wake her up and take her home so she could sleep in her bed.

"Mal," he had whispered. "Mal."

Long story short, the wedding had ended in a panic and Fairy Godmother had to come to evaluate her in the palace where she was lying in a bed in the hospital wing.

"It's a sleeping spell," she had announced. "It looks as though her magic is rebelling against her and cursed herself."

"What!?" Jay had yelled.

"You have to understand children," Fairy Godmother spoke. "Mal's magic comes from her parents' so she has magic derived from evil. Because she has been using what little of her magic for good, it has developed to shut itself down for a while. This would probably happen if she had a new experience that the magic wouldn't agree with. Something that would've made her happy."

Ben stayed sitting in the chair by her side, letting a tear roll down his face.

"Ben?" Fairy Godmother asked. "Can you think of anything?"

"Yes," he spoke, knowing that he had lost everything that he had ever wanted in life. "We found out yesterday that she was pregnant. Two months along."

"Oh Ben," Evie cried. "How long will she be like this?"

"Well, my child, we cannot be sure. It could be months or years. She might wake up when her water breaks."

"Fairy Godmother," Carlos asked. "What if she doesn't wake up."

"Oh, my poor dear, you may be able to have a c-section done to get the baby out if she isn't awake."

"What does it feel like to her?"

"Most likely her magic is causing her to remember being evil and doing the types of things that it wants her to do."

"So, she might be reliving the Isle?"

"Most likely."


	2. Chapter 2

"Any progress?" Evie asked Ben, who sat by Mal's bedside, holding her hand and drawing circles on it as usual.

Mal didn't look too good. The doctors had UVs hooked to her arm, making sure that she and the baby were getting all the nutrients they needed. Although Mal was pale before, laying on a hospital bed for four months made her almost ghostly white.

Ben didn't answer, and only kept staring ahead.

The girl with blue hair nudged him, "Ben?"

He blinked in confusion, being pulled out of his daze. "What?"

"Any progress?" The girl repeated.

"Fairy Godmother hasn't seen any. She's six months along now so she hopes that when the baby starts kicking it may wake her up a little bit." he replied, sounding hallow.

"If you want, I can watch her for a few minutes, you can take a shower." She offered gently.

"No, it's okay."

"Ben, I can stay with her."

"I don't need a shower!" He yelled. Seeing Evie wince, he back tracked. "I need her. Sorry for snapping."

"It's okay, go take a shower, you smell like a beast."

He tried to give a little smile at her attempt at a joke, but it was a broken smile.

"Thank you." He leaned down and placed a kiss on his wife's forehead. "I love you," he murmured.

The door to Mal's room closed gently, so Evie knew she was alone with her friend.

"Oh Mal," she spoke gently. "What is going on inside your head?"

"_Mal," Evie called. "Mal? What could be going on inside your head?"_

"_Currently?" The girl replied. "I'm thinking about all the ways I can get under Shrimpy's skin."_

"_You're terrible," Carlos chuckled. _

"_Thank you," she said with a little bow. _

"_Is Jay coming?" Evie asked her friends._

"_Depends on how much he stole today, you know that," the boy replied. The two girls nodded in agreement._

"_I was hoping for some truth or dare or something like that."_

_Mal laughed at her. "Truth or dare? What are we, six?"_

_Evie rolled her eyes. "Not easy truth or dare, something with a bit of edge to it."_

"_I'm not kissing any of you, just saying," Carlos put out there. _

"_Ya, that's nasty," the purple girl agreed. _

_She got up from the couch and moved over to her half-finished portrait of Evie, grabbing a royal blue spray paint and glancing at her friend for reference. Mal made a motion with her hand that meant to move to another angle. _

"_You getting my good side?" she teased._

"_Last time I checked, you don't have a good side," a voice from the entrance declared._

"_Hey Jay," Carlos greeted._

"_Hello weird people."_

"_Now that we're all here, can we please figure out what we are doing?" Evie complained, leaning her back over the edge of the bed. "I'm so bored."_

"_Oh, you poor baby."_

"_We could play truth or dare," she recommended._

"_No," the rest of them groaned as a collective unit. _

"_No need to be mean guys." _

"_Long live evil," Mal recited. _

"_We're rotten-"_

"_To the core," they chanted together. _

_Carlos continued to play with the gadget in his hands and Evie returned to playing with her hair. Mal went back to painting. There was a heavy jolt in her stomach, causing her to mess up a line of the paint, slicing through picture Evie's shirt._

"_You good?" Jay questioned._

"_Ya, I just had this weird pain in my stomach," she explained. "It kind of felt like there's something in me that's kicking."_

"_M, that's not good at all." _

"_It's not a big," her sentence was interrupted by another jolt. "Deal."_

"_Whatever you say Mal," Carlos sighed. _

_Maybe you should take a break for a little bit." Evie walked over to her friend to guide her to one of the four cots they had in the room. She did all but place the girl down. "You might just need sleep."_

"_Yes," the girl agreed. "I just need sleep."_

_It was a feat that Mal fell asleep in front of them, she was always the protector, going to bed last if they stayed at the hide out and always looking after the others before herself (although she would never let anyone know that). _

"_It's our turn to care for you," she heard Carlos mutter her way before she slipped into the darkness._

In reality, Ben had taken a shower, shaved (Belle had caught him on his way back to the hospital wing and forced him to), and had gotten dressed into his pajamas. At this point, he knew that Mal was in a king-sized bed in the hospital so he could easily crawl into the other side without the chance of touching her (hurting her) or the baby. Before he lay down, he sat in his usual chair and held her hand for just a little, when her eyelids fluttered.

A wave of joy overtook him. "Mal?" he asked, as a silent tear fell down his cheek. "Can you hear me?"

Her eyelids fluttered a little more, looking as though she may be trying to open them. He quickly ran over and dimed the lights in the room, their best doctors said that when awoken, the light might be too bright for her at first.

"Mal? You can open your eyes, it's okay." He heard a groan in response.

Ben knew that right now he should probably be running to get the others, but maybe he was allowed to be a little selfish right now, after all, she was his wife and he wanted her for a little bit before everyone came running in.

"Mal," he called for a last time. "Please, wake up."

As if on command, her eyelids opened and she pushed herself up a little too fast. He could see her struggle so he put a hand on her shoulder.

"What?" she mumbled.

At hearing her voice, Ben had to stop himself form weeping right there. He just loved her so much, and here she was.

"Hey babe," he teased. "Long time no see."

Although he was expecting a strange reaction, he was not expecting her to hyperventilate. "Oh my god, I'll go grab-"

She got herself under control quickly. "No, it's okay."

After that, he just sat for a few minutes, staring at her. Her eyes were even more beautiful than he remembered.

"Hate to ruin the moment," she cut in. "But where am I?"

"You're in the hospital wing."

"And why am I so fat." As if on cue, the baby kicked her. "Ow, why does it keep doing that."

"What do you mean? You're not fat."

"I get it, you're trying to be nice, but I'm fat and confused. Who are you? You're very lucky I'm tired and hooked up to this machine," she gestured to the UV. "Or you probably would be dead by now."

"You mean," Ben took a deep breath. "You don't remember me?" His voice shook and his palms started sweating. His breath picked up and he tried to slow it so he wouldn't panic.

"Should I?"

"Mal," he whispered. "How old are you?"

"What a dumb question," she hissed. "I'm 16."

"And you don't know who I am?" She shook her head. "And you don't remember anything past that point?"

"Should I?" she snapped.

"I don't know how to say this."

"Say what?"

"Well, my name is Ben, you're 21, we're married and um... you're pregnant."

She chuckled at him, leaning in really close. "Prove it."

With that, she ripped the UV out of her arm and tried to get out of bed. She got maybe two steps before Ben grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back gently.

"Don't touch me," she growled. "I don't know you."

"I'll make you a deal," he bargained. "If you stay here, I'll call Evie, Jay, and Carlos. You remember them, right?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Duh."

"Okay, I'll be right back."

He didn't let himself cry except for when he was on his way to the phone.


	3. Chapter 3

**This would've been up a lot sooner if I wasn't at my Aunt's house without the Wi-Fi password (and my social anxiety because I was too nervous to ask for the password.) Thank you all for the reviews! And I got the ages from google so that's just what I went by for this story. Thank you, guys, for bearing with me!**

"Hey, Ben, what do you need?" Evie asked as she picked up the phone. She felt it strange that he called somewhat late.

"Mal woke up."

It took her a minute to process it, before she had a few tears slip down her face. She could probably mark that moment as one of the happiest in her life. "Why don't you sound happy?"

"Well that's the thing," he explained. "She doesn't remember anything."

"What do you mean anything? As in anything at all or the night she fell asleep. Does she remember me?"

"No Evie, she remembers you. The issue is she doesn't remember me. She thinks she's still a 16-year-old on the isle." He could hear her gasp faintly.

"I'll be right there. And I'll call Jay and Carlos."

"Goodbye."

"See you soon."

Ben put down the phone, and walked slowly back to the hospital wing, not ready to face her yet. How could he sit there with the love of his life when she didn't even know his name? He could almost picture her sitting on the bed, waiting for him to get there, her feet bare and her eyes being the dull dark green they become when she is upset. He could always read her eyes.

And there she was, exactly where he knew she would be. Her hair had really grown out in the past few months, so now it was below her boob level. She was obviously bored, swinging her bare feet all around because the bed was fairly high up and she never stopped being short.

He still thought that she was so beautiful.

Although she didn't believe that she was pregnant, and she didn't want to be in her state of mind, he could see the pregnancy glow. She was radiant. Ben could've cried right then and there because of how relieved he was that she was okay when it came to physical health of her and the baby.

She looked up at him and her eyes seemed to ask, 'who really are you?'

"No need to loiter in the doorway," she called. "I don't bite." She paused for a second, "much."

He cracked a small grin at her attitude, because she could never lose that fire behind her. It was one of the many things that he loved about her.

"Um, hi," Ben said from the doorway. "I called Evie and explained everything to her and she said she would call Carlos and Jay on her was over."

"Where's she coming from?" Almost all of her words seemed to be sharp with a point on the end.

"She's about forty minutes away. She is coming from her castle that she bought with her money from her business. She'll tell you all about it."

"And you said I was in a 'hospital wing.' What is that?" she continued.

"Well it's where we take the sick people to get treated for injuries or spells that have gone wrong." He explained. "I don't know if there was anything like that on the Isle from what you remember."

"And your name is?"

"Ben," he jumped in. "Ben Adams."

"And you said we were married?" She laughed as though he had made a joke. "Did I take your last name?" Her giggle was snarky and teasing.

He swallowed. "Yes."

"Mal Adams, sounds like a joke."

He thought of how he could poke the bear but wondered if this Mal would get mad at him. To be fair, there wasn't anything for him to lose at this point. "It's even worse if you have your full name in there. Mal Bertha Adams. Or, if you're going to go all the way, to say Malef-"

"-and how do you know my real name?" She bit.

"We're married."

She laughed again and again. "So, does that mean that I love you?" She mocked.

He stared at her with a flat face and answered her in an extremely serious voice. "Yes. You did at least."

She shut up.

"Oh," she deadpanned.

"Oh," he repeated. "I'm going to sit outside the room and wait for Evie."

"What, you can't stand to look at me right now or something?"

"Exactly."

… line break line break line break …

Evie arrived to see the king sitting outside the room, with his head in his hands. He looked just as bad as he did the last time she saw him. Evie had hoped that Mal being awake would be good for him and his health. The biggest problem was when he looked up at her, the bags under his eyes were just as deep as they were before.

"She's in there?" Evie knew how to be gentle to Ben without babying him, which he greatly appreciated.

He nodded in response.

"Why are you out here?"

"I can't look at her right now. Her eyes just," he paused to find the best way to word what her eyes felt like on him. "Evie, she hates me."

"Ben-"

"No, there's nothing you can say, she hates me."

"Okay, well I'll go talk to her." She opened the door to Mal's private room and stepped inside. "Ben," she looked over her shoulder. "There's no way she could ever hate you."

Before he could reply, she was already inside.

"You got old," he could hear Mal say through the door. He cracked a small smile, then walked to his and Mal's room to give the two some space.

He walked down the halls of the palace fast, wanting to get out of the way. It was the first time in the past six months that he wasn't rushing as fast as he could to get back to Mal.

He pushed open the door, looked at the neatly made bed which hadn't been slept on in months, and sat down. He felt as though he had probably sat there, staring at the wall for over an hour. He just felt so empty inside without her.

He was pulled out of his daze by the door quietly opening and shutting almost immediately. Mal was pressed against it, looking as though she was hiding from something.

Ben looked at her, impressed by the way she had snuck in so fast with her pregnant stomach. Sure, it wasn't huge but she had never been that big until today.

"Hi?" He greeted.

She looked a little startled and was definitely unaware that she had walked right into her own room.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

She sighed. "Hiding from Evie, Jay, and Carlos."

"Why? They're your friends and-"

She cut him off. "I don't have friends, I have allies. And you have no right to question-"

"Don't cut me off."

She looked as if he had hit her.

"You look shocked," he pointed out to her. "You're not used to people talking back to you."

"No, I'm not." At this point she had fully stepped into their room and was nearing the foot of the bed, staring at her husband. "Most people are scared of me. You know I've cut-"

"Out people's guts."

"What is your problem!" She yelled. "Why won't you just leave me alone!"

"You're the one who snuck in here." He has never yelled at Mal, and he was not going to start now. He still looked at her lovingly and spoke to her calmly.

"Well-" She began to argue again but seemed to not be able to find something to back her up. "Where even am I now?"

"How about you take a look around this room and see if you can figure it out."

"Okay." She answered shortly.

"Okay?" Ben chuckled. "I think that's the first time you haven't argued with me in the past day."

"Don't get used to it."

Following his instructions, she started to poke around the room a little. Her moment of realization truly happened when she wandered into the closet. The purple haired girl walked into the wide bedroom area from the closet with the dress she had finished cotillion **(I don't know how to spell guys I'm sorry it's the event at the end of the second movie)** in. She was looking at it as though it was vaguely familiar.

"Is this mine?" She asked, confused.

"Yes."

"Why is it so," she scrunched her nose up. "Princessey."

"That was your dress when you entered into the court. You have another closet through the bathroom where all your gowns are." He explained.

"And why do I need gowns? I'm a lady of what court?"

"What did Evie, Jay, and Carlos all tell you?"

"Not much. They basically caught me up on their lives and didn't realize that I don't even know where I am." She laughed a little sarcastic laugh.

"You're in the castle. You need gowns because you're the queen."

"Um," she paused a moment. "I'm a what?"

He got up and grabbed the dress from her hands to help her bear the load. He guided her to their couch and set her down.

"I know it's a lot to take in. But I'm here to help you. We're all here to help you."


End file.
